


Eyes on Fire: Reunited

by DragonWyrd316



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-04
Updated: 2013-02-04
Packaged: 2017-12-15 15:40:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/851223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DragonWyrd316/pseuds/DragonWyrd316
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Vali Shepard finds herself face to face with Zaeed Massani, after she's been released from the detention center to take on the might of the Reapers.  One shot.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Eyes on Fire: Reunited

She was restless.  Hell, restless was much too tame a word for how she felt.  She wanted to kick some major ass, work some of her tension out by body checking anybody stupid enough to take her on.  Instead, she was playing bloody detective and politician which might have been her thing when she was going after Saren and playing by Alliance rules, but now… even though she was officially amongst their ranks again, she wasn’t going to return to being another cookie cutter soldier.  
  
If the Primarch was correct, there was a fat little volus on the Citadel who was selling secrets of turian troop movements to Cerberus.  Now all she had to do was use her Spectre status to try and find the greedy ambassador’s whereabouts.  At least her other meeting promised to be interesting - Aria needed to talk to her, though she was surprised to learn the asari was here instead of on Omega.  
  
Smirking, the moment she stepped off the Normandy and into the docking bay, Vali tugged off the N7 hoodie she’d been sporting and tied it around her waist, letting it drape over her hips.  Outside of her dogtags, the rest of her screamed 20th century skater punk; from the black steel toe boots, the baggy black denims that hung low on her hips adorned with thick silver chains hanging from the belt loops, and the matching black halter tank that showed off the tattoo sleeves that covered her well toned arms.  Her blue-black hair was still outside regs as well - shaved on either side leaving her with a mohawk, though the riotous curls now hit past the small of her back.   
  
“Excuse me, soldier, but piercings are against regs, even if you’re off-duty,” an Alliance lieutenant called out, nodding at the barbells in her right brow and the hoop in her bottom lip.  
  
“I’m Commander fucking Shepard and I’ll wear whatever I goddamned please,” her laugh, low and husky, followed behind as she continued her stroll toward the elevator, leaving the young man gaping at her.  “Must be new to the rank to have the balls to try something like that,” she smirked to herself.  
  
**********  
  
“So Aria, what brings a hard-core bitch like you to an uptight place such as this?” Vali sprawled out on the bench, mentally admitting that the music wasn’t half bad - would be better if it wasn’t stuffed with military types and was a bit grungier in appearance.  
  
“The Illusive Man stole Omega from me.  Once I get some things in order, I’ll contact you about taking it back, but for now, I’ve got a proposition for you,” the asari replied, her blue gaze flicking over at the woman next to her.  
  
“Fucker was already on my shit list from my time stuck working with him.  Now he’s even more so.  When you get that battle plan in action, let me know.  I miss Omega,” she sighed, turning back to look at Aria.  “Whatchya need?”  
  
“I need you to get the Blood Pack, Eclipse, and Blue Suns back under my rule.  You do that, I’ll give them to you for your war.  Way I see it, if the Reapers aren’t defeated, I’m dead no matter where I’m at,” Aria answered, studying Shepard.  Damn, what she would do to get this woman on her payroll.  She’d actually have someone she could trust keeping an eye on shit for her.  
  
“Just tell me whose asses to kick back into place and you got a deal.”  
  
Vali listened intently as Aria told her what needed to be done, silver eyes glittering almost maliciously in the club’s lighting.  
  
“Darner Vosque is gonna be fun to play with,” she snickered, sliding off the bench in one fluid motion.  “I think  I’ll leave him for last.”  
  
“Just watch that one.  Idiot thinks he’s actually going to get me in bed one of these days and if I have to suffer his gaze on my tits one more time…”  
  
“Oh he’ll learn what happens when you mess with either of us.  Once I’m done, the Suns will be ours and trying to cozy up to you in bed will be far from his mind.”  
  
“And that’s why I like you, Shepard.  You don’t pull any punches.  I dare say, you’re almost like a human version of me.”  
  
“High praise indeed, coming from you,” a grin flashed over Vali’s face.  “I’ll contact you once this is done and then we can talk about Omega and how to wrench it away from Cerberus.”  
  
“Looking forward to working with you, Vali.”  
  
“That makes two of us.”  
  
**********  
  
She must have been seen going into the Spectre office enough times that the turian outside the Volus embassy didn’t so much as bat an eye when she told him she needed in.  Rubbing her hands together, she walked around the office, checking out the different terminals until she found one with the volus’ most recent communication records.  
  
“Ooooh little bastard _has_ been working with Cerberus.  We’ll get this fixed so the Primarch can focus on the upcoming summit and getting me the fucking troops I need instead of worrying about which transport the Hornets will hit next.”  
  
Vali fast-forwarded through the next conversation, barely registering the fact that the volus was no longer willing to work with Cerberus.  No, it was the third recorded conversation that had her stop in her tracks and a grin work itself across her lips.  
  
“Zaeed fucking Massani.  How wonderful it is to hear your voice again, husband mine.  I think it’s time the two of us got to play together again.”  
  
Silver eyes studied the room a bit harder this time, picking up a detail she’d missed when all she had been focusing on was the computer terminals.  Bending over, she grabbed up the tracking receiver Din Korlack had hidden prior to being kidnapped by Zaeed and the other mercs.  
  
“How long ‘til we kill Korlack?”  Zaeed’s voice was a mixture of sandpaper and honey to her ears, alternately soothing her and rubbing along her nerves in a delicious manner.  
  
“Once the credits go through,” an unknown female voice stated.  “Was beginning to think you weren’t interested in the money.”  
  
“I’m not.”  
  
Vali smirked.  Of course he wouldn’t be in it for the money.  Both of them were sitting high on the hog with the payoff Cerberus had given him after surviving the suicide mission and the money she’d personally transferred to herself before the Illusive Man had the sense to lock down the Lazarus Project’s accounts after she blew the Collector base sky high.  
  
“Is it because Korlack worked for Cerberus?  What’d they do to you?”   The timbre of the second male voice made her think krogan.  She’d see when she finally figured out where the fat little bastard was.  Now she was in this for her own personal reasons.  It had been just over six months since she had last seen Zaeed and that was way too fucking long in her opinion.  
  
“None of your goddamned business,” Zaeed hissed.  Ooooh they were pissing him off.  Idiots.  Maybe she’d be able to get there in time to see the show if they took it too far.  Nothing turned her on more than seeing her husband beat the ever living shit out of someone else, or blow their head off for that matter.  “Wait a minute - is he waking up?”  
  
That was her cue.  
  
“Good morning sunshine, or should I say, Ambassador Korlack?  This is Commander Shepard.  Can you hear me?”  
  
“Yes… yes, I can hear you.”  
  
“Where’d your buddies take you?”  She grinned at the bit of silence on the other end of the line.  The ambassador was probably trying to figure her out.  
  
“Umm… we’re still near the Presidium.  C-Sec will check Selkish Arms when they realize I’m missing.”  
  
So, the little bastard was in the apartments near the Presidium Commons market.  Vali hopped into the elevator and took it down a few floors, stepping out into the overly cheery, and noticeably wealthy Citadel district.  
  
“They won’t give a damn once they’ve realized you sold them out to Cerberus.”  
  
Damn straight they won’t, Vali agreed with Zaeed, her walk turning into a jog the closer she got to the apartments.  Her patience was wearing thin - she wanted to see her husband _**now**_.  
  
“Zaeed used to work for Cerberus.  Ask him why he’s here,” Vali urged the volus on - wanting not only to hear her husband’s reply, but also find a way to give him a sign that she was coming.  
  
“Why… why go after your old employer, Zaeed?” she heard Korlack ask.  
  
“How do you know my name, all of a sudden?” suspicion colored Zaeed’s voice.  
  
“Good question,” the female merc butted in.  Vali’s smile turned feral.  The woman had better not be thinking of trying anything with Zaeed because she didn’t share and those who tried to take what was hers learned the hard and painful way not to try again.  
  
“Cerberus is after a turian colony.  Kill me, and they get it,” the ambassador huffed out.  
  
“Drop my name,” she ordered, slinking past the door she was supposed to meet the Blood Pack emissary in and toward the room at the end of the hall.  Logic told her this was where he was being held due to location and the empty apartments on either side.  She’d already been looking into renting one of the three in this hallway due to all the time she figured she’d be stuck coming back to the Citadel.  Might as well have a place to call her own where she could actually have some privacy.  
  
“Shepard’s investigating.  She’s a… recent… acquaintance,” Korlack did as ordered.  
  
“How recent?” Zaeed asked.  
  
“Very.”  
  
“All right, I’m listening.”  
  
Creeping closer, her assumption proved to be correct as she soon heard gunfire coming from within.    
  
“Goddamned fucking door why don’t you open?”  she cursed, hacking the lock seeming to take longer than usual.  The moment the door slid open, her beloved M-11 Wraith shotgun at the ready, Vali stopped short when she saw Zaeed leaning up against one of the pillars in the room, the other two mercs dead at his feet.  
  
“About goddamned time, bitch,” he grinned at her, though it dimmed slightly as he just stared at the woman in front of him.  “Damned glad to see you made it off Earth in one piece.”  
  
“I’m hard to kill.  You should know that already,” she smirked, strolling over to him.  Dragging her nails over the nape of his neck, Vali leaned up on her tiptoes to slant her mouth over Zaeed’s, delving her tongue inside the moment his lips opened up to hers.  She found herself crushed against his body, arms like steel bands holding her tight.  
  
“Ex-Excuse me…” Din Korlack interrupted.  “Thank you for saving my life,” he began when Vali pulled back enough to look at him from over her shoulder.  “Those mercs just wanted me dead.  Didn’t want to listen to what I had to say.”  
  
“Yeah, about that,” Vali pulled away to stand over the round, bulbous form of the volus.  “What’s this about a colony?”  
  
“Information on a turian planet’s defense systems.  They’ll strike soon.  But if I tell you which planet they’re attacking, Cerberus will know I turned traitor.”  
  
“You little bastard,” Vali hissed, taking a step closer to the ambassador.  Korlack backed up, holding his hands high in the air.  
  
“Turned?  You already betrayed your own people,” Zaeed muttered, coming up behind his wife.  
  
“I just saved your ass.  Tell me which planet you put in danger,” Vali growled, taking another step forward.  
  
“I can offer a bargain.  The volus bombing fleet.  In tactical terms it’s worth far more than a colony.”  
  
“You could give us both.”  
  
“You can warn the turians there will be an attack, Commander.  That should be general enough to ward off suspicion.”  
  
“Or I can let my husband beat you within an inch of your life for wasting our time here,” she smirked, silver eyes sparkling with an unholy light.  “What do you say, sweetheart?”  
  
“With pleasure,” Zaeed stalked forward, cracking his knuckles.  
  
“Wait!  I’ll… I’ll give you both!”  
  
“Good boy…”  
  
*********  
  
She understood his haste to leave the apartment, what with his reputation and the ambassador calling on C-Sec to take care of the bodies left behind, but it still rankled that she was stuck staying behind to clean up the mess the volus had created.  After a nice long conversation with the officers, taking the heat, as it were, for the deaths of the mercs - thankfully her and Zaeed preferred the Mattock assault rifle and she’d taken his before he left - the ballistics should point to her killing them instead of a third party.  
  
Pinching the bridge of her nose as she made her way through the crowds in the holding area, she cursed at the amount of time it had taken her to get the Blood Pack under Aria’s rule again, along with her little conversation with Sederis, keeping her from meeting up with her husband as quick as she’d wanted to.  If her plan worked out, depending on if the asari’s second in command was really as malleable as it seemed he was, she’d be able to take the woman out of the picture permanently and put someone in charge whom Aria could easily order around.  
  
“Heya Commander!”   
  
Vali looked up to find a shirtless Vega getting tattooed by a cursed batarian, though she kept her mouth shut.  The tattoo artist narrowed all four eyes at her, though he quickly looked away and back to the job at hand when her eyes frosted over and her fingers caressed the Carnifex resting on her hip.  
  
“ ‘Sup, Vega.  Trying to get all the girls in the area to swoon at the sight of you running around without a shirt on?” she chuckled.  
  
“I don’t know, Lola.  Is it working yet?” he winked at her.  “You swooning over my manly physique?”  
  
“You wish.  Y’know, if you wanted a tattoo, I could have given you the name of a damned good artist over on Tayseri Ward.  She’s the one who’s done most of my ink since Cerberus brought me back.”  
  
“If I take you up on that, would you consider matching?  Maybe my name somewhere… special?” Vega grinned, though he was taking in the skill and artistry behind the sleeves Vali sported.  
  
“Keep your eyes where they belong, jackass,” Zaeed rumbled from where he’d been leaning against one of the cargo containers that had been converted to a living space.  
  
“I don’t see where what I say or do has anything to do with you,” Vega bit out, wincing as the batarian dug a bit too deep with the tattoo gun.  “If anyone has a problem with it, that would be Lola here, and she’s welcome to kick my ass if I step out of line.”  
  
Smirking, Vali shook her head and sauntered over to Zaeed, her hips taking on a sensual roll as she approached.  Vega watched, entranced, almost feeling sorry for the old fucker for trying to stick his nose into the Commander’s business, though his eyes kept drifting down to her hoodie covered ass as it swayed in ways that made him want to groan and drool over the floorboards beneath him.  
  
“God, I’ve missed ye, ye daft bitch,” Zaeed growled, grabbing onto Vali the moment she came within arm’s reach.  Picking her up, he swung her around and slammed her against the hard corrugated metal of the cargo container, his lips almost bruising as he crushed them against hers.  One hand fisted into her long tresses, causing her to buck up into him and her mouth to open to his devouring onslaught.  
  
Vega was just about to jump to his Commander’s aid until he saw her legs wrap around the old merc’s waist and those long fingers dig into the nape of the man’s neck.  The sounds coming from her had him blushing like a schoolboy and all he could do was hope that the batarian finished his tattoo quickly so he could get out of there and away from the steam that would assuredly set even him on fire.  
  
“You’re joining me back on the Normandy, I hope,” she gasped out moments later, her breath coming in uneven rasps.  
  
“Try keepin’ me away,” Zaeed grinned.  
  
“Mmm, good.  Now, what would you say to taking your rightful place as Suns owner again?  Looks like Vosque took up Vido’s mantle, and Aria’s asked me to get them back under her control, along with Eclipse and Blood  Pack, so I have myself a nice and dirty army against the Reapers.”  
  
“As long as your asari friend realizes they’re only on loan until this damnedable war is over,” he murmured against Vali’s lips, pressing his body even tighter against hers, eliciting another moan from the woman in his arms.  
  
“I’m… I’m sure we can come to an agreement,” she stuttered, the way he was rolling his hips causing enough friction she was close to getting off after being without for so long.  Reading the naked lust in his wife’s eyes, recognizing the way her body was responding, the answering grin on his lips turned feral.  Not caring that they were in a public area, Zaeed dragged his teeth over the taut cord of muscle from Vali’s jaw to shoulder as he slammed his hips right against the juncture of her thighs.  Keening out her husband’s name, Vali convulsed in Zaeed’s arms as her climax hit hard and fast.  
  
“Just wait ‘til we’re alone in your cabin and I get you naked,”  he whispered in her ear, enjoying the way she shuddered in his arms.  
  
“Let’s take care of Vosque quickly, then.  I can always send a message to Aria later,” she grinned, sliding down the length of her husband’s body, ignoring the stares of those who had been a party to their reunion.  
  
“Someone hose me down with ice water,” Vega muttered to no one in particular, shifting a bit uncomfortably in his seat at the heat that infused his groin after hearing his commander getting off in the corner.  “ _Dios_ , I hope they keep that shit confined to her quarters.”

**Author's Note:**

> For those who'd like to see, here's an image of [ Vali Shepard ](http://solardiamond.deviantart.com/art/Vali-Shepard-261085439) courtesy of my friend [ SolarDiamond ](http://solardiamond.deviantart.com) from deviantArt.


End file.
